Image: Looking Back to Braid Forward, Envisioning Forward to Braid Back, 2026
In this process study for BRAIDWOMAN™, braid is pinned into provisional architecture. The hand steadies the structure, as cord, tension and gesture map- the early formation of a larger sculptural inquiry. Suspended between blueprint and ritual, the work marks the intimate scale, from which monument emerges …

Joanne Petit-Frère
Archival pigment print
2026
Edition details available upon request.

Acquisition inquiries: JoGoesWest Studios™

(1) What Is Contemporary Hair Sculpture?

… introducing …

BRAIDWOMAN™

&

the architecture of

…

Braided Sanctuaries™

Contemporary hair sculpture, as created by

Joanne of JoGoesWest Studios™ is an emerging form of installation art that reclaims braiding as architecture, ritual, and memory

…

BRAIDWOMAN™ & the Braided Sanctuaries™ series, transform hair from domestic adornment into monumental sculptural language

that is rooted in Black & Brown diasporic lineage, feminine labor, and immersive spatial design.

Hair as Architecture, Not Accessory

For centuries, braiding has existed within the domestic sphere - practiced by women, sustained through intimacy, often dismissed as humbling or ornamental craft - rather than, agency canon!

Contemporary hair sculpture as envisioned by Joanne, re-frames that lineage as structural. Each braid becomes beam. Each part becomes blueprint. Each crown becomes cathedral.

BRAIDWOMAN™ emerges from this shift — honoring the invisible labor of women across ages who braided survival, mapped community, and constructed beauty without institutional permission, restriction ...

BRAIDWOMAN™ - Domestic Labor as Monument

BRAIDWOMAN™ is not costume. She is a sculptural thesis …

an ultra-contemporary bending of how the at times marginalized when convenient, extracted when source is necessary and/ or sought - step forward in simple agency braided not necessarily even restrictively braided literally thru hair but in dance of ideological making and transcending.

… who would’ve thought the braid to hold so much, in all it’s simplicity and complexities, ha!

Joanne investigates these notions as she braids, at whim, in dedication, in application and in submersion.

She stands in homage to the women who braided at kitchen tables, on porches, between shifts, across generations. The domestic space becomes a site of architectural innovation. The ritual of touch becomes structural engineering.

Through sculpture, film, and selective immersive installation, BRAIDWOMAN™ re-frames braiding as both sacred inheritance and contemporary art form.

The Braided Sanctuaries™ Series

Braided Sanctuaries™ seeks to expand this inquiry, and facilitation into selective ‘spansive environment.

Having the works operate as:

Sculptural headpieces

Freestanding installations (or wall resting)

Film environments

Ritual architecture

Materials include: traditional braiding material of plant & manufactured hair fibers, human hair, natural woven textile, internal armature structures, and spatial lighting design. Assembled by her hand and on occasion also, by those of loved ones also skilled in the practice of braiding; Joanne sculpts hair either by method of braiding, stitching or composing form.

Dimensions vary by installation.

The work asks:

What if hair is not mere decoration - but instead, deep dwelling across various metaphysical planes?

Installation, Film, and International Premiere

BRAIDWOMAN™ extends into short film … slowly returning to live exhibition by way of the moving image.

The project premieres internationally at 2026 Adelaide Fringe - one of Australia’s largest festivals & in acknowledgement of the Kaurna people, traditional custodians of the Adelaide Plains.

The film is by way of a contemporary hair sculpting, bridging of diasporic visual dialogue, across continents of cultural legacies of the Taíno and Arawak peoples of Ayiti and West African ancestral traditions. The work is further shaped by the First Nations lands of Oklahoma, where Joanne’s studio practice continues to unfold…

Collecting Contemporary Hair Sculpture

Collectors of contemporary art increasingly seek works that merge material innovation, cultural inquiry, and immersive and even here … with an understanding of the art historical traditional canon … holds appreciation for a teetered presence of a sort of recall,

of a romantic tribal “hair rock” …

Select works from Braided Sanctuaries™ are available in:

Sculptural editions

Limited fine art prints

Film screening partnerships

For acquisition inquiries, collectors may contact JoGoesWest Studios™ directly.